Overnight, a small suburban town called Neighborville had become the epicenter of the zombie apocalypse. It was mostly devoid of human presence, but one woman was too stubborn to flee.
Jade Cohen never had an exciting life and it was always a mundane ritual for her. She was buried in debt from six years of tuition fees, unable to even feed herself.
One day, her luck changed for the worse.
--
Stepping out of her car, Jade looks down at the flyer again. "Of course this old-ass house is it," she mumbles to herself. Traveling alone was dangerous enough with the whole 'zombie apocalypse' thing. Traveling alone to a rotten old house is a whole nother level of idiotic.
The August breeze sweeps hair off her shoulders, tossing it behind her head. She sighs and stuffs her hands in her pockets. "Out of all the places it could be--no, of course it's here. They did this just to scare me," she grumbles.
Right now, she's so far in-debt she can't afford Ramen from the gas station. The cashier gives it to her free after hours, probably out of pity. According to the flyer, this job pays a ridiculously high amount of money. Just the thought of it makes the 24 year old salivate.
Upon reaching the door, Jade knocks on its decayed wood surface, avoiding the maggots burrowing through it. Her eyes roll as it creaks open. "Of-fucking-course," she hisses.
"Hello,"she pokes her head through the doorway. Looking back at the flyer, she reads off her employer's name, "Fayre?...Are you in there?"
Something clatters against the floor in another room. "Yes, yes, just a moment, darling. Are you Jade? The girl who called?" Her voice bounces with eagerness, like a toddler being offered ice cream.
"That's me." She steps through the foyer, closing the door behind her. The hinges groan as it swings shut. "Do you need any help?"
"That would be wonderful. I'm in the kitchen, dear." Another crash fills the house, followed by a frustrated sigh.
Jade tramps through the house, old floorboards creaking under her weight. Inhaling dust off old furniture, she sneezes loudly before she steps through the doorway.
"Sorry about that, it's my al-"
Swiftly shoved against a nearby wall, she heaves as the breath leaves her lungs. A tall woman with dusty rose hair jams a needle into her neck, grinning. Fayre watches the contents of the syringe drain with absolute glee. A craze glints off her eyes.
Jade's vision quickly fades.
--
A muffled chatter brings her back to consciousness.
Jade's eye's blink open slowly as she takes in a dimly lit room. She recognizes the woman from earlier talking to a shorter figure.
Cotton stuffed in her ears, she can't understand what they're saying. She tries to lift her head, but a restraint stops her at the neck.
Steel beams run across concrete walls, fortifying the room like a nuclear shelter. The only source of light is a screen attached to a large machine. Buttons and levers cover its face under bottles of various chemicals. A heart rate, her heart rate, beeps rhythmically in the background.
The cold touch of metal restraints on Jade's wrists force a shiver from her. Metal clacks against metal and the clamor alerts the two individuals.
Fayre turns around, smiling at her captive. She coos something delicately as she approaches, producing a full syringe from a pocket in her long white lab coat.
Flicking it twice, a wicked grin climbs her cheeks. She was about to make the sale of a lifetime off a single subject; of course she was excited.
Jade's eyes widen with fear as she shrieks, thrashing around in her restraints. No...not again...
Something pricks her arm, forcing a thick liquid in her muscle.
Sliping back into unconsciousness, she pieces a sentence together.
"It's always delicious when they squirm, wouldn't you agree, Edgar?"
--
"Rise and shine!"
Jade awakes with a start, rattling the cuffs on her wrists. She's constrained to a surgical table and unable to move. Tubes and wires stick from her arms and legs, allowing liquids to sluggishly oose in. The trapped girl opens her eyes to a squint as bright LED's flash on overhead, nearly blinding her. She squeezes them shut.
"You're very lucky," Fayre muses.
"Lucky? How am I lucky?...What the hell is this?" Jade squirms uncomfortably, the waning anesthetic making her slow and groggy.
"This is my laboratory," Fayre laughs, "I've turned you into a powerful asset. Your value is far more than millions." A cyanide smile creeps across her face as she snaps a black glove against her skin.
After seeing them a few times now, Jade knows what those gloves mean. "No!" She struggles against her constraints, ripping one clean off table. Bewildered, she looks at her freed hand. "Holy shit..."
Fayre's jaw drops into a grimace, "stop squirming, you aren't ready yet!" She rushes over to a bottle filled with a silvery substance. Searching for a syringe to fill it with, she tears open a medicine cabinet.
Jade tears a second cuff from the operating table with a grunt, marveling at her new strength. She fumbles with the adjustable strap on her neck as she watches the bottle shine. Her eyes fill to the brim with fear.
The strap pops off her neck.
"Sit still! Don't move!" Fayre swirls the bottle carefully, preparing the syringe to be filled.
Jade yanks another metal cuff off her leg as Fayre pops the lid back on. She fixes the needle to her instrument with a practiced precision.
Instinctively, Jade swings her elbow into Fayre's chest, bone striking bone with a sickening crack. The syringe slips through her fingers and clatters to the floor.
The wicked surgeon recoils with a hiss of pain, falling to her knees. Both hands fly to the wound as blood sluggishly seeps through her fingers. It stains her white coat.
Jade swings her legs over the side of the table, wobbling as she remembers how to stand.
"You...," Fayre coughs, "you bitch." Scowling, the desperate woman reaches a trembling hand for the dart, sharp needle glinting in the dim light.
Destroying her final obstacle, Jade stomps a foot down on her assailant's fingers. "Not this time." Im a badass now?
She nudges the needle away from Fayre, a precaution fit for her unpredictable foe. I need to get out of here, she panics.
A light flashes on overhead, derailing her train of thought. Covering her eyes, she rubs them violently.
"What the hell," she groans, realizing that, in her frantic state, the door was opened.
"Doctor? I need an upda--oh." A short, undead man stands in the doorway. His head is unusually large. Hanging over his boney shoulders sits long white lab coat. A tight black suit, equipped with a heart monitor, hugs his petite frame tightly.
Originally, his plan had been to record progress on his new bodyguard. The battlefield is creeping closer to his residence, something he can take no risks on.
Jade stumbles backwards into the table. "You're-"
"I know who I am," his lip twitches in irritation. "The question is, why aren't you where you're supposed to be?" Sauntering calmly to a paper-strewn desk, he sets his clipboard down. If he keeps the escapee's attention, Fayre will have an opportunity to attack.
"You're freaks...both of you." Trembling, Jade ponders on ways to escape this precarious situation.
"And you aren't?" His face twists into a sneer.
Jade takes a step along the side of the table, inching towards the open doorway.
"Vincent. We have an emergency." Uncaring, he keeps his eyes on his opponent. Chess was always his forte, especially when the stakes were high.
"Yes? What is it, sir" A slim, yet muscular figure slips through the doorway, wearing a short black cocktail dress. He smiles lewdly at his boss, holes in his rotting cheeks revealing sharp pre-molars.
What is this? A glorifyed fever dream?
"Vincent. I'm trying to be intimidating; you're being an embarrassment." A frown creases his chapped lips as he flicka his eyes off Jade.
"Don't you like it, Edgar dear," cooing, the sadistic man swishes his hips.
"Absolutely not," scoffs the zombie, "Don't call me that, you halfwit-"
Jade crashes to the floor, falling flat on her face. Tucked between her shoulder blades sits an empty syringe. Heaving behind her, Fayre clutches her chest, wobbling on unsteady legs.
"Oh my goodness, Fayre," Vincent rushes to her side, groomed eyebrows knotted together.
Dr. Zomboss winds his fingers together pensively. This was not the situation he'd hoped for. However, it was an excellent showcase of his newest assets power.
She eventually will give in, he deliberates. His plans may have turned slightly sour, but this was only the beginning.
The beginning to the end of the world.